Quite often somebody will say, What year do your books take place? and the only answer I can give is, In childhood.

I was a very observant child. The boys in my books are based on boys in my neighborhood growing up.

Today I discovered two kinds of people who go to high school: those who wear new clothes to show off on the first day, and those who wear their oldest clothes to show they think school is unimportant.

I don't think children's inner feelings have changed. They still want a mother and father in the very same house; they want places to play.

Otis was inspired by a boy who sat across the aisle from me in sixth grade. He was a lively person. My best friend appears in assorted books in various disguises.

With twins, reading aloud to them was the only chance I could get to sit down. I read them picture books until they were reading on their own.

The humiliation that Jane had felt turned to something else--grief perhaps, or regret. Regret that she had not known how to act with a boy, regret that she had not been wiser.